Door for refrigerator cars



Oct. 21, 1952 A. F. o'coNNoR DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 7, 1946 Oct. 21, 1952 A, F, QCONNOR 2,614,294

DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed June 7, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 21, 1952 A. F. o'coNNoR DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 7, 1946 MM w,

Patented Oct. 21, 1952 DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Arthur E. OFConnor, Chicago,` Ill., assignor to Union Asbestos & Rubber Company, a corporation oflllinois Applicatonlune 7, 1946, Serial No. 675,049

(CL. 2li-23.)

4 Claims. 1

This.. inventionY relates to. doorsfor refrigerator cars and more.vv particularly tov the mounting and control Oi-such doors.

It has heretofore. been proposed to support refrigerator car doors. on crank arms carried. by bars or levers. which are slidably supported on tracks on the car.. Since the door panelsare quite heavy, difficulty has been` encountered in providing crankv armsv ofsuilicient strength to support thepanels when they are in open position. The result has. beenthat after a relatively short period of use the crank. arms tend to sag so that the doors will not-.operate properly..

Itis. oneof the objectsofthe present invention to. provide a doorcarried by crank arms for movement toward and away from the door opening in which the door panel is supported independently of the crank arms in its. open position.. In a preferred construction the edges of theV door. panel and the bars. or beams which. carry the crank arms are formed with` interengaging parts which directly carry the. weight. of the panel. when it is out of the opening.

Another: object is to provide a door for refrigerator carsin. which. the bars or beams carrying the crank arms are positively moved toward and away fromI the. door to move. it toward and away from its opening. In one desirable construction a4 locking toggle linkage is. employed which will. positively hold the door in either its open or its closed position..

The above andv other objects and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from. the following description whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a partial elevation of. a refrigerator carv equipped, with a door embodying the present invention;

Figures 2; and 3 are horizontal sections' showing the door in closed and open. position, respecv tively;

Figures 4, 5', and 6v are partial sections on the lines 4 4, 5 5-, and ---lt respectively, of Figure 1; and

Figure '7 is a partial sectionillustrating the connection of the lower end of a supporting bar to the lower; track.

As shown, the door is adapted to close a door opening in the side wall I of a refrigeratQr car which may be insulated to form a relatively thick wall. The opening is adaptedto. be closed by a doory panel [l of the same` thickness as the wall I0 and which is shaped to fit within the door opening. Preferably, the panel and the opening are formed with tapering sides as best lseen in Figures, 2 and 3 so: that the panel may move, easilyinto andout of; the opening., The panel is-,formed around its edges with. av projecting flange l2 ilush with the outer surface of they door and which is. adapted to seat against a resilient seal I3 carried by the. side Iwall Ill around the door` opening to form an air tight sealwhen the: door is closed.

The door is adapted. to be slidabl-y supported on. a lower track I4. and an upper track l5 which extend horizontally above and below the door opening. The tracks Ill and l5, may be inI the form ofgenerally rectangular bars supported on'v the car side wall by suitable.. typesV of. bracketswhich.- leave the edges of*y the bars adjacent thev door openingfree. The door is carried byv bars or beams IG adjacent its opposite edges and-.Whichmay-be formed as shown of hollow box beam. section. The beams I6 are supported on the lower track by a wheeled carriage indicated generally at l1 and which has an upwardly extending cylindrical post I8 journaled in a bushing I9` car.'- ried bythe beam [6. The carriageA Il' also. carries wheels or rollers 2-.l which reston the track I4 to support the beams thereon. At their upper ends the beams IB rotatably carry yokes 22 which straddle the edge of-v the. upper track l5.

The doorpanel Il is. carried -by crank arms 23 which are attached to and project from the beams I6. As best seen in Figures 2 and 3 the crank arms 23 extend outward. from the beams Itv and are pivotallyv connected to brackets 24 carried on the outer surface of the door panel. Preferably the arms 23 are olset as shown to ex'-r tend around the flanges l2 on the door and to permit the beams I6 to move. into close prox--` imity tothe side edges: of the door panel when it is open.,

In order to carry the. weight. ofy thepanel inde.- pendentl-y of the, crank arms -23 when the panel is moved away-from the. door opening, the :beams IE are formed with projecting lugs 2 5v extending outward from. the side-s thereof. The.. lugs. 25 are. adapted to nt into openings orrecesses 26` formed in the side edges of the door panel and or a. size snugl-yto receive-the lugs Z5.

When. the door is closed, asshown in Figure 2:, the weight of the panel.- is: carriedl directly by the carside wall, and. the beams and crank arms, lie in the position shown, with the beams spacedfrom. the edges of. the door panel. Wheny the door; iS pulled openas, for example, by means of a handle- 2l on the. front, oi the door panel, the beams I6. will swing in toward the side edges of the panel and will rotate about their own axes. When the panel is fully away from the opening, as shown in Figure 3, the lugs 25 will enter the recesses 26 and will directly support the weight of the panel independently of the crank arms 23. It will be noted that in this position the door panel has been swung out beyond the side wall of the car so that it can be slid along the tracks away from the opening to permit entry to the car. With this construction the strain is removed from the crank arms so that they will not tend to sag during use. In order to move the beams |6 positively toward the side edges of the door panel, means are provided connecting the beams to move them together and apart. As shown, this means comprises a toggle linkage including a block 23 slidably supported on the lower track M and connected to the adjacent carriage by a link 29. A lever 3| is pivoted on the block with its free end connected through a link 32 to the opposite carriage I1. When the lever 3| is in the position shown in Figures 1 and 2, the link 32 and lever 3| will be aligned to separate the beams I6 so that the door will be moved in to its closed position. When it is desired to open the door, the door will be pulled outward from the opening by the handle 2'1 and at the same time the link 3| will be turned counter-clockwise, as seen in Figure 1 to pull the beams I6 together with the lugs 25 projecting into the recesses 25. An outwardly turned projection 33 on the end of the lever 3| will engage the link 32 so that the linkage will form in eiect a locking toggle to hold the parts in the position shown in Figure 3. Thus the door can be slid to any desired position along the tracks without danger of having the -beams separate to move the door against the side of the car.

When the door is closed, it is preferably held in tightly closed position by a separate latching means including latching plungers 34 slidably carried by brackets 35 on the door panel and adapted to move behind the tracks |11 and l5. As shown in Figure 4, the plungers 34 preferably have tapered ends so that they will cam the door toward tightly closed position. The plungers are connected to links 36 which in turn are connected to the ends of double bell crank levers 37. When the levers 31 are turned to the position shown in Figure 1, the plungers will be forced out to engage beneath the tracks and hold the door panel tightly closed. When the levers 3'! are turned through approximately 90 they will draw the plungers in to disengage the tracks so 'that the door can be opened.

To open the door from its closed position the operator iirst turns the handles 31 to release the latches and then pulls the door slightly away from the opening by the handle 21. swings the lever 3| counter-clockwise to move the beams I6 together. As the beams move together they will rotate to the position shown in Figure 3 to move the door to its maximum distance away from the opening. Toward the end of this movement the pins 25 will enter the openings `26 directly to support the door on the beams I6 and to relieve strain on the arms 23. At the end of the movement the toggle linkage will lock to hold the beams I5 in against the door.

To close the door the process is reversed, the operator first swinging the lever 3| clockwise to withdraw the pins 25 from openings 2B and to move the door inward. He may then force the door fully into its opening and latch it by turning He thenV 4 the handles 3'! to the position shown in Figure l.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail herein, it will be understood that this is illustrative only and is not intended as a definition of the scope of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A door for refrigerator cars and the like having a door opening in a side wall and tracks extending above and below the door opening coinprising a door panel adapted to t in the door opening, bars adjacent the opposite edges of the door panel mounted on the tracks for sliding and rotating movement, crank arms carried by the bars and pivotally connected to the door panel to move-the door away from the opening when the bars are turned, projecting lugs on the bars and parts of the edge portions of the door to engage the lugs so that they will support the door panel when it is moved away from the opening.

2. A door for refrigerator cars and the like having a door opening in the side wall and tracks extending above and below the door opening comprising a door panel adapted to t 4in the door opening, bars adjacent the opposite edges ofthe door panel mounted on the tracks for sliding and rotating movement, crank arms carried by the bars and pivotally connected to the door panel to move the door away from `the opening when the bars are turned, the door panel having openings in its side edges at vertically spaced points, and vertically spaced lugs projecting horizontally.7 from the bars to enter the openings and support the panel when the panel is moved away from the door opening.

3. A door for refrigerator cars and the like having a door opening in a lside wall and horizontal tracks above and below the door opening comprising a door panel adapted to t in the door opening, vertical bars adjacent the edges of the panel, crank arms on the bars pivotally connected to the panel at its outer surface, means rotatably connected to the .bars and slidably supported on the tracks, the bars moving toward the side` edges of the door panel when the panel is moved away from thev door opening, interengaging parts on the side edges of the panel and on the bars directly engageable with each other when the bars move toward the side edges of the panel to support the panel on the bars, and a locking toggle linkage connecting the bars to move them towardthe edges of the panel and to hold them adjacent the panel with said parts in engagement.

4. The construction of claim 3 in which said engaging parts comprise vertically spaced openings in the side edges of the door and vertically spaced lugs projecting horizontally from the bars to enter the openings.

ARTHUR F. OCONNOR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 665,412 D111 Jan. s, 1901 1,237,731 Wheeler Aug. 21, 1917 1,482,841 Crook Feb. 5, 1924 '2,083,708 Haseltine June l5, 1937 

